U.  S.  DEPARTMENT   OF   AGRICULTURE, 

BUREAU  OF  ENTOMOLOGY— BULLE:  IN  No.  55. 


L.  O.    HOWARD,    Entomolo^st 


THE  REARING  OF  QUEEN  BEES. 


PREPARED   UNDER  THE   DIRECTION'   ()F   THE    ENTOMOLOGIST 

BY      ] 

E.  F.  PHILLIPS,  Ph.  I).. 
Expert  Ajiictdturi&i. 


WASHINGTON: 

GOVERNMENT     PRINTING     OFFICE, 

19G5. 


BUREAU  OF  ENTOMOLOGY. 

L,  O.  Howard,  Entomologist  and  Chief  of  Bureau. 

C.  L.  Marlatt,  Entomologist  and  Acting  Chief  in  absence  of  Chief. 

R.  S.  Clifton,  Chief  Clerk. 

F.  H.  Chittenden,  in  charge  of  breeding  experiments. 

A.  D.  Hopkins,  in  charge  of  forest  insect  investigations. 

W.  D.  Hunter,  in  charge  of  cotton  boll  weevil  investigations. 

F.  M.  Webster,  in  charge  of  cereal  and  forage-plant  insect  investigations 
A.  L.  QuAintance,  in  charge  of  deciduous-fruit  insect  investigations. 
Franet  Benton,  in  charge  of  apicultural  investigations. 

E.  A.  Schwarz,  D.  W.  Coquillett,  Th.  Pergande,  Nathan  Banks,  Assistant 
Entomologists. 

E.  S.  G.  Titus,  August  Busck,  Otto  Heidemann,  A.  N.  Caudell,  R.  P.  Currie,  J.  G. 
Sanders,  F.  D.  Couden,  Assistants. 

R.  C.  Althouse,  W.  F.  Tastet,  Mary  G.  Champney,  A.  J.  Leister,  E.  C.  Wood, 
T.  A.  Keleher,  Jessie  E.  Marks,  Stenographers  and  Clerks. 

Lillian  L.  Howenstein,  Artist. 

Mabel  Colcord,  Librarian. 

H.  E.  Burke,  W.  F.  Fiske,  J.  L.  Webb,  J.  F.  Strauss,  ^engaged  in  forest  insect  investi- 
gations. 

W.  E.  Hinds,  A.  W.  Morrill,  Springer  Goes,  J.  C.  Crawford,  W.  A.  Hooker, 
W.  W.  Yothers,  A.  C.  Morgan,  W.  J).  Pierce,  F.  C.  Bishopp,  C.  R.  Jones, 
R.  C.  Howell,  F.  C.  Pratt,  Wilmon  Newell,  E.  C.  Sanborn,  E.  S.  Hardy, 
W.  0.  Martin,  engaged  in  cotton  boll  weevil  investigations. 

G.  I.  Reeves,  W.  J.  Phillips,  engaged  in  cereal  and  forage-plant  insect  investigations. 
Fred.  Johnson,  A.  A.  Girault,  J.  H.  Beattie,  engaged  in  deciduous-fruit  insect  investi- 
gations. 

E.  F.  Phillips,  J.  M.  Rankin,  Leslie  Martin,  engaged  in  apicultural  investigations. 
C.  J.  Gilliss,  W.  A.  Keleher,  engaged  in  silk  investigations. 
E.  R.  Sasscer,  Student  Assistant. 


U.  S.  DEPARTMENT   OF   AGRICULTURE, 

BUREAU  OF  ENTOMOLOGY— BULLETIN  No.  55. 


L.   O.    HOWARD,    Entomologist 


THE  REARING  OF  QUEEN  BEES. 


PREPARED    UNDER   THE   DIRECTION   OF   THE   ENTOMOLOGIST 
BY 

E.  F.  PHILLIPS,  Ph.  D., 

Expert  Apiculturist. 


WASHINGTON: 

GOVERNMENT     PRINTING     OFFICE. 

1905. 


LETTER  OE  TRANSMITTAL. 


U.  S.  Department  of  Agriculture, 

Bureau  of  Entomology, 
Washington,  D.  C. ,  October  11+,  1905. 
Sir:  I  have  the  honor  to  transmit  the  manuscript  of  a  bulletin  on 
the  rearing  of  queen  bees,  by  Dr.  E.  F.  Phillips,  Expert  Apiculturist 
of  this  Bureau.  It  is  hoped  that  the  explicit  directions  given  in  this 
manuscript  governing  the  production  of  queens  will  be  of  assistance 
to  bee  keepers  throughout  the  country,  and  that  it  will  prove  the  means 
of  saving  money  for  those  who  carry  on  apiculture  except  in  the 
smallest  way.  I  therefore  recommend  that  this  manuscript  be  pub- 
lished as  Bulletin  No.  55  of  this  Bureau. 

Respectfully,  L.  O.  Howard, 

Entomologist  and  Chief  of  Bureau. 
Hon.  James  Wilson, 

Secretary  of  Agriculture. 


P  R  E  F  A  C  E. 


Bee  keeping  is  primarily  a  breeding  problem,  for  the  honey  surplus 
of  a  colony  depends  so  much  on  the  queen.  In  order  to  make  more 
public  some  of  the  best  methods  of  queen  rearing-,  this  bulletin  is 
issued.  Much  of  the  labor  of  manipulation  can  be  avoided  by  the  use 
of  the  systems  herein  described. 

It  is  held  by  the  best  bee  keepers  that  it  is  necessary  to  restock  all 
colonies  with  new  queens  every  year;  but  the  practice  is  not  as  com- 
mon as  it  should  be.  It  is  hoped  that  the  simplicity  of  the  methods 
hereafter  described  will  serve  as  an  inducement  to  those  bee  keepers 
who  have  not  adopted  the  plan  to  pursue  it  in  the  future. 

The  rearing  of  queens  has  become  a  separate  field,  in  that  some  men 
devote  their  entire  apiaries  to  this  purpose;  and  to  these  professional 
queen  breeders  must,  to  a  large  extent,  be  given  the  work  of  the 
improvement  of  stock;  but  it  is  far  from  wise  for  the  ordinary  honey 
producer  to  neglect  this  side  of  the  industry. 

E.  F.  P. 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2012  with  funding  from 

University  of  Florida,  George  A.  Smathers  Libraries  with  support  from  LYRASIS  and  the  Sloan  Foundation 


http://archive.org/details/queenbeOOunit 


CONTENTS 


Page. 

Necessity  of  requeening 7 

Natural  queen  rearing ' 9 

Swarming 9 

Supersedure 10 

Queenlessness 10 

Artificial  queen  rearing 10 

Starting  queen  cells 11 

Description  of  cell  cups 12 

Transferring  larvae 12 

Method  of  starting  cells 15 

Difference  in  races . . .  .• 15 

Swarm  box 15 

Description  of  box 16 

Method  of  use 16 

Alley  system  of  cell  starting 18 

The  use  of  ' '  cocoons  " 19 

Completing  queen  cells 19 

Incubators 19 

Styles  of  nursery  cages 20 

Introducing  queen  cells 23 

Mating  queens 24 

Comparison  of  different  sizes  of  boxes 24 

Phenomena  in  mating 27 

Testing  queens 28 

Necessity  of  pure  stock 29 

Selection  of  drones „..._. 29 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


Page. 
Fig.  1.  Standard  frame  with  bar  of  completed  cells  on  wooden  flanged  cups 

and  bar  of  Doolittle •  wax  cells 12 

2.  Standard  frame  with  bars  of  queen  cells  on  wooden  bases 13 

3.  TwTo-story  hive  with  perforated  zinc  honey  board  between  the  stories, 

the  top  to  be  used  for  queen  rearing 13 

4.  Swrarthmore  incubator  holding  sixteen  cells  on  wooden  bases 14 

5.  Swarthmore  incubator  in  frame 14 

6.  Swarm  box,  showing  position  of  frames  and  inner  side  of  lid,  with 

wooden  cells  in  place,  ready  for  bees 16 

7.  Swarm  box  from  below,  with  top  of  lid 17 

8.  Frame  with  a  strip  of  foundation  only  partly  drawn  out,  with  larv;e 

in  cells,  cut  according  to  Alley  plan  of  cell  starting 19 

9.  Titoff  nurseries  in  frame  holder,  showing  construction  of  nursery 20 

10.  Svyarthmore  nursery,  with  queens -  - 21 

11.  Swarthmore  nursery  dissected 21 

12.  Swarthmore   nurseries  in   frame,  showing  method  of  storing  forty- 

eight  queens 22 

13.  A  style  of  cage  which  answers  all  the  requirements  for  convenience 

and  usefulness  as  nursery  and  introducing  cage__ 22 

14.  Swarthmore  nucleus  with  one  frame  removed  to  show  construction  . .  23 

15.  Swarthmore   nucleus   with  introducing  cage  in   place   between   the 

frames 23 

16.  Benton  mating  boxes 26 

17o  Benton  mailing  cages „ 26 


THE  REARING  OF  QUEEN  BEES. 


NECESSITY  OF  REQUEENING. 

In  modern  apiculture  it  is  necessary  for  the  bee  keeper  to  be  able  to 
get  queens  at  saiy  time.  Many  bee  keepers  requeen  all  their  colonies 
every  year;  others  requeen  every  two  years;  it  is  necessary,  then,  that 
they  have  some  method  of  rearing  good  queens  to  use  in  this  way. 
Even  where  frequent  requeening  is  not  practiced,  it  is  nevertheless 
often  necessary  to  replace  queens  which  do  not  come  up  to  the  stand- 
ard in  egg  laying.  Again,  it  often  happens  that  a  colon}T  becomes 
queenless  b}~  the  accidental  death  of  the  queen.  Such  a  colony,  if  left 
to  itself,  will  rear  a  queen,  provided  there  are  young  larva1  in  the 
combs,  but  few  bee  keepers  are  now  willing  to  intrust  so  important  a 
matter  to  the  bees. 

Frequent  requeening  is  a  veiy  necessaiw  thing  if  the  best  results 
are  to  be  obtained.  It  is  a  well-established  fact  that  queens  lay  more 
eggs  during  the  first  year  than  in  any  other,  and  that  the  number  of 
eggs  laid  gradually  diminishes  until  the  queen  is  replaced,  because  of 
inabilit}7  to  keep  up  the  colony.  Every  bee  keeper  knows,  too,  that, 
all  other  things  being  equal,  the  greatest  amount  of  surplus  hone}T  is 
produced  by  the  most  populous  colony.  It  is  evident,  then,  that 
frequent  requeening  means  the  maximum  honey  production. 

It  has  not  yet  been  shown  that  requeening  more  than  everjT  second 
year  pays  for  the  extra  labor,  but  the  best  bee  keepers  hold  that 
queens  should  not  be  allowed  to  live  longer  than  that  time.  There 
are,  of  course,  exceptional  cases  in  which  the  queen  will  keep  up  the 
population  of  a  colony  for  two  or  even  three  years  longer  than  the 
time  given;  but  unless  every  colony  can  be  watched  constantly  it  will 
not  pay  to  risk  keeping  queens  more  than  two  years  old/' 

It  is  also  desirable  to  have  extra  queens  on  hand  when  the  number 
of  colonies  in  the  apiary  is  to  be  increased  by  division  or  b}T  any  of 
the  methods  of  artificial  swarming.     If  a  queen  is  provided  as  soon  as 

"An  exception  to  this  rule  occurs  in  large  queen-rearing  apiaries  where  it  is  desira- 
ble to  have  large  numbers  of  choice  drones  always  on  hand.  Since  old  queens  lay  a 
much  larger  proportion  of  drone  eggs,  it  is  often  desirable  to  keep  one  or  two  old 
queens  of  select  stock  on  this  account.  There  is  no  evidence  that  drones  from  old 
queens  lack  anything  in  vitality. 

7 


8  THE  REARING  OF  QUEEN  BEES. 

the  increase  is  made,  the  new  colony  will  gain  about  three  weeks  in 
brood  production  over  a  colony  which  has  to  produce  its  own  queen. 

The  question  which  arises  in  the  mind  of  every  bee  keeper  is:  Will 
it  pay  me  to  rear  my  own  queens?  Very  good  untested  queens  can 
now  be  purchased  for  $1,  or  even  less,  it  is  true;  but  where  a  large 
apiary  is  to  be  requeened,  this  amount,  though  small  for  one  colony, 
reaches  considerable  size  when  multiplied  by  a  few  score;  and  if  this 
amount  can  be  saved,  and  the  total  net  receipts  of  each  colony  corre- 
spondingly increased  with  comparative!}7  little  labor,  it  would  seem 
folly  for  the  bee  keeper  to  persist  in  purchasing  queens. 

It  will  of  course  be  necessary  for  the  average  bee  keeper  to  buy 
some  queens.  The  selection  of  fine  strains  of  stock  must  be  left  to 
the  professional  queen  breeder  in  most  cases,  and  it  will  be  well  to  buy 
the  breeding  stock  from  some  such  person.  Where  no  particular 
improved  strain  of  stock  is  desired,  it  may  pay  the  extensive  bee 
keeper  to  buy  an  imported  queen  to  be  used  as  a  breeder.  In  the  case 
of  Italian  bees  this  does  not  seem  necessary,  for  very  superior  stock 
is  reared  in  the  United  States,  and  queen  bees  of  the  Italian  variety 
are  actually  shipped  from  this  country  to  Italy  to  be  used  as  breeders. 
In  Carniolan,  Cyprian,  and  other  races  not  so  much  selection  has  been 
carried  on  in  this  country,  and  in  consequence  the  desirability  of 
importations  is  greater  in  order  to  insure  purity  of  stock. 

Few  bee  keepers  are  so  situated  that  they  can  with  profit  rear  their 
own  breeding  stock.  It  is  the  rule  in  some  apiaries  to  choose  the 
queen  from  the  colony  with  the  best  honey  record  as  the  breeder  for 
the  following  year,  but  this,  while  seemingly  good  policy,  leads  to 
curious  errors.  Unless  it  is  certain  that  the  queen  is  of  pure  stock  or 
of  a  fixed  cross  she  should  not  be  used,  for  it  is  a  well-known  fact  that 
when  a  first  cross  is  used  as  a  breeder  the  resulting  offspring  are  most 
variable. 

It  is  the  purpose  of  this  bulletin  to  outline  a  plan  for  breeding 
queens  in  the  home  apiary  which  it  is  believed  can  be  used  with  the 
minimum  of  labor  and  expense,  one  with  which  good  results  have 
already  been  obtained.  Queen  rearing  can  not  be  carried  on  without 
careful  attention,  but  the  methods  are  not,  as  many  believe,  so  compli- 
cated as  to  make  it  impossible  for  the  honey  producer  to  afford  the 
time.  The  beginner  in  bee  keeping  can  scarcely  expect  to  rear  good 
queens  during  the  first  year,  and  no  one  can  hope  to  do  so  until  he 
becomes  well  acquainted  with  the  habits  of  bees.  It  is  impossible  to 
give  directions  minute  enough  to  cover  every  phase  of  the  subject,  and 
so  that  every  emergency  will  be  foreseen:  a  great  deal  must  necessarily 
be  left  to  the  common  sense  and  experience  of  the  apiarist.  The  out- 
line herein  given,  however,  ought  to  be  sufficient  for  anyone  who  has 
had  one  year's  careful  work  with  bees. 


THE  REARING  OF  QUEEN  BEES.  9 

NATURAL  aUEEN  REARING. 

Before  taking  up  any  artificial  methods  of  queen  rearing,  it  is  nec- 
essary to  have  well  in  mind  the  circumstances  and  conditions  under 
which  a  colony  of  bees  will  undertake  to  rear  a  queen.  It  is  well 
known  to  all  bee  keepers  that  workers  are  female  bees,  that,  when  a 
queen  is  to  be  reared,  a  larva  which  would  under  other  circumstances 
become  a  worker  is  fed  on  a  specially  prepared  food,  and  that  thereby 
the  reproductive  organs  are  fully  developed.  All  female  larvae  when 
just  hatched  from  the  eggs  are  alike  in  development,  whether  they 
are  destined  to  become  queens  or  workers.  If  then  any  female  larva 
is  chosen  and  so  placed  that  this  special  food  is  given  it,  the  resulting 
bee  is  a  queen;  on  the  other  hand  if  the  ordinary  larval  food  is  given 
it,  a  worker  is  the  result.  This  discovery  is  generally  attributed  to 
Schirach,  although  the  assertion  is  frequently  made  that  the  fact  was 
known  before  his  time. 

Since  this  change  of  food  is  exactly  what  is  brought  about  in  nature 
by^the  workers,  in  order  to  proceed  intelligently,  we  must  first  know 
the  conditions  under  which  such  a  thing  can  be  done;  for,  while  bees 
are  somewhat  flexible  in  their  instincts,  too  great  a  departure  from 
their  natural  inclinations  will  result  only  in  failure.  The  three 
conditions  under  which  a  colony  will  rear  a  queen  in  nature  are  (1) 
swarming,  (2)  supersedure,  and  (3)  queenlessness. 

(1)  Swarming. — In  the  spring  of  the  year,  as  a  rule,  but  at  any  time 
when  the  quarters  in  which  the  colony  is  located  are  too  small,  bees 
acquire  what  is  known  as  the  "swarming  impulse."  In  spite  of  all 
the  work  that  has  been  done  on  the  habits  of  these  insects,  just  what 
brings  this  about  and  the  exact  physiological  conditions  leading  up  to 
it,  are  still  unknown.  Many  weird  and  wild  guesses  have  been  made 
at  various  times,  but  it  may  be  said,  almost  without  fear  of  contradic- 
tion, that  we  are  as  far  as  ever  from  knowing  the  true  cause  of  swarm- 
ing. It  does  not  always  hold  true  that  cramped  quarters  produce  the 
phenomenon,  nor  that  sufficient  room  will  prevent  it. 

At  any  rate,  when  the  swarming  impulse  is  aroused  the  bees  begin 
to  build  queen  cells,  and  in  these  eggs  are  often  laid  lyy  the  queen. 
The  queen  cell  is  larger  at  its  base  than  the  worker  cell  and  pro- 
jects, when  completed,  beyond  the  outside  line  of  the  comb,  hanging 
down  in  an  acorn-shaped  projection  with  irregularly  pitted  walls. 
The  number  of  such  cells  which  are  produced  depends  on  many  things, 
among  which  may  be  mentioned  temperature  and  the  race  of  bees. 
In  colonies  of  Italian  bees  the  number  is  usually  not  great,  but  in 
Cyprians  there  are  often  from  30  to  60  queen  cells,  while  in  Tunisians 
there  may  be  several  times  that  number.  When  the  queens  are 
about  ready  to  emerge  from  the  cells,  the  old  queen  and  part  of  the 
colony  leave  to  establish  a  new  one. 

11251— No.  55—06 2 


10  THE    REARING    OF    QUEEN    BEES. 

(2)  Supersedure.- — When  a  queen  on  account  of  age  or  other  cause 
ceases  to  lay  eggs  enough  to  keep  up  the  strength  of  the  colony,  the 
workers  build  queen  cells  and  rear  queens.  When  the  first  one  of 
these  emerges,  an  encounter  ensues  between  the  young  queen  and  the 
old  one,  and  almost  invariably  the  latter  is  killed. 

(3)  Queenlessness. — It  may  happen  that  the  queen  in  a  colony  is  killed, 
and  in  that  case,  if  there  are  young  larva?  in  the  combs,  the  workers 
will  rear  queens,  one  of  which  later  becomes  the  mother  of  the  colony. 
While  in  nature  this  is  probabty  a  more  rare  condition  than  is  either 
of  the  two  preceding,  it  is  a  normal  and  natural  circumstance  under 
which  queens  are  reared. 

In  the  rearing  of  queens  by  the  so-called  artificial  methods  it  is 
necessary  to  follow  rather  closely  one  of  the  three  natural  conditions. 
As  will  be  shown  later,  queens  can  be  reared  in  colonies  with  a  lay- 
ing queen,  provided  a  perforated  zinc  sheet  be  used  to  prevent  the 
latter  from  tearing  down  the  cells,  but  in  such  cases  we  probably 
approach  the  swarming  condition. 

In  practice  the  bee  keeper  can,  if  he  wishes,  take  queens  from  nor- 
mally constructed  cells.  By  making  a  colony  queenless  a  considerable 
number  of  these  will  be  reared,  and  by  very  careful  watching  almost 
all  of  them  can  be  captured  and  caged  before  they  kill  each  other  or 
destroy  other  queen  cells.  To  do  this,  however,  it  is  necessary  to 
look  over  the  entire  colony  several  times  a  day  for  several  days,  and 
thus  it  is  far  from  a  time-saving  method.  The  plan  is  not  to  be  recom- 
mended except  where  it  is  impossible  to  use  some  of  the  better  methods. 
In  the  same  way  queens  emerging  from  cells  built  in  swarming  time 
or  during  supersedure  may  be  captured.  There  are,  however,  better 
methods  of  queen  rearing;  for,  by  modern  appliances,  the  work  is  not 
only  made  much  more  simple,  but  also  gives  better  results.  A  descrip- 
tion of  these  methods  may  seem  rather  complicated  to  one  who  has 
not  tried  them,  but  the  manipulation  is  easily  learned,  and  after  a 
brief  acquaintance  with  the  appliances  the  whole  subject  of  queen 
rearing  becomes  very  simple. 

ARTIFICIAL  QUEEN  REARING. 

The  methods  to  be  described  here  are  not  those  of  any  one  system, 
but  are  the  result  of  many  investigations  in  this  field.  It  is  impossible 
to  give  credit  to  every  one  who  has  offered  valuable  suggestions  on 
this  subject,  and  no  such  attempt  will  be  made;  for  it  is  often  difficult 
to  learn  with  certainty  who  first  used  and  recommended  any  particular 
plan.  The  bee-keeping  journals  are  full  of  valuable  hints  on  this 
work,  and  methods  long  ago  in  use  are  repeatedly  rediscovered  and 
given  as  new.  To  prevent  any  injustice,  then,  it  seems  best  to  avoid 
giving  credit  in  all  cases,  except  where  there  is  no  doubt  as  to  the 
origin  of  the  plan.     The  author  disclaims  all  credit  of  originality  in 


THE  REARING  OF  QUEEN  BEES.  11 

this  bulletin,  but  can  say  that  all  the  methods  described  have  been 
tried  successfully  by  him,  either  in  the  apiary  of  the  Bureau  of  Ento- 
mology or  before  entering  the  service  of  that  Bureau.  The  object  in 
writing  such  a  bulletin  is  that  the  successful  methods  may  become 
better  known.  In  most  cases  the  plans  given  are  somewhat  modified 
and  are  not  exactly  as  used  by  the  originators  of  the  various  systems. 
These  modifications  may  not  appear  to  everybody  to  be  improvements, 
but  they  are  such  as  have  seemed  desirable  either  in  the  work  of  the 
apiary  of  the  Bureau,  or  in  the  experience  of  other  queen  breeders.  In 
giving  directions  for  each  part  of  the  work  of  queen  rearing,  several 
methods  are  described;  for  it  is  realized  that  not  all  bee  keepers  can 
conveniently  use  the  same  system.  Where  a  particular  appliance  is 
known  commercially  under  a  certain  nana1,  that  name  is  used;  for  in 
such  cases  no  dispute  as  to  originality  can  arise  and  no  injustice  can  be 
done.  The  author  disclaims  any  responsibility  in  giving  these  names, 
but  employs  those  in  current  use  in  apicultural  literature.  None  of 
the  appliances  which  are  mentioned  in  this  bulletin  are  patented  and 
any  bee  keeper  is  at  liberty  to  make  them,  either  in  the  style  described 
or  with  any  modifications  which  he  sees  tit  to  make. 

The  use  of  some  terms  which  are  rather  current  in  bee-keeping  lit- 
erature has  been  avoided,  since  several  of  the  more  common  terms  are 
not  only  useless  but  misleading.  If  the  writers  on  apiculture  were  to 
be  more  careful  in  the  nomenclature  of  the  science,  it  would  do  much 
toward  making  their  descriptions  clear,  and  at  the  same  time  apicul- 
ture would  be  regarded  with  more  respect  by  beginners  and  outsiders. 

An  effort  has  also  been  made  to  exclude  all  discussion  which  does 
not  have  a  direct  bearing  on  queen  rearing.  It  is  assumed  that  the 
reader  is  familiar  with  the  principles  of  bee  keeping,  and  consequently 
it  has  not  seemed  necessary  to  discuss  other  phases  of  the  work  of  the 
bee  keeper. 

STARTING  QUEEN  CELLS. 

The  queen  cells  used  by  various  queen  breeders  vary  greatly. 
Natural  queen  cells  are  sometimes  used  in  queen  rearing  by  cutting 
them  from  tin1  comb  and  fastening  them  with  wax  to  a  bar  the  length 
of  the  top  bar  of  the  hive.  These  cells  already  stocked  with  royal 
jelly,  the  food  of  the  queen  larva1,  are  ready  to  use  by  simply  remov- 
ing the  larvae  already  in  them  and  replacing  them  with  larvae  from 
the  breeding  queen.  There  are,  however,  several  objections  to  such 
cells.  They  are  far  from  uniform,  and  are  not  easily  put  into  nursery 
cages  when  sealed;  they  are  supplied  with  more  royal  jelly  than  is 
necessary;  in  most  cases  they  are  not  easily  obtained  in  sufficient 
number;  and,  finally,  they  can  not  be  handled  and  removed,  as  can 
artificial  cells.  Where  such  cells  are  used  it  is  often  customary  to 
allow  the  queens  to  emerge  on  the  combs  of  the  hive,  but  this  necessi- 
tates the  hunting  for  young  queens,  which  is  a  waste  of  time. 


12 


THE    REARING    OF    QUEEN    BEES. 


DESCRIPTION    OF    CELL    CUPS. 

It  is  much  better  to  use  a  cell  base  artificially  produced.  These 
cells  can  be  made  of  wax,  or  on  wooden  bases  with  a  depression  which 
is  filled  with  wax.  They  are  just  as  readily  accepted  by  the  bees,  and 
because  of  uniformity  and  ease  of  handling  are  much  preferable. 

The  Doolittle  cell,  made  by  molding  wax  on  a  stick  with  rounded 
end  of  the  exact  diameter  of  a  queen  cell,  is  very  good  and  was  proba- 
bly the  first  artificial  cell  used  in  commercial  queen  rearing.  The 
molding  stick  is  dipped  in  hot  wax,  and  when  one  layer  of  wax  is  cool, 
the  process  is  repeated,  each  time  the  stick  being  dipped  a  shorter 
distance.  The  result  is  a  cup  with  thin  edges  and  heavy  base.  Such 
cells  are  also  made  by  pressing  out  the  wax  in  a  mold.  The  cells  are 
then  fastened  to  a  bar  with  wax  preparatory  to  introducing  the  larvae 
(see  fig.  1). 


j^'ig.  1. — Standard  frame  with  bar  of  completed  cells  on  wooden  flanged  cups  and  bar  of  Doolittle 

wax  cells  (original). 

Cups  with  wooden  bases  are  now  widely  used  and  have  many  advan- 
tages over  the  wax  cups,  in  that  they  can  be  transferred  from  one  bar 
to  another  without  danger  of  breaking  and  can  more  readily  be  used 
again  after  the  queen  has  emerged.  These  cups  are  usually  made  of  a 
cylindrical  piece  of  wood  with  a  concave  depression  in  one  end  which 
is  lined  with  wax.  There  is  a  nail  point  in  one  end  which  allows  them 
to  be  fastened  to  a  bar  by  pressure  (see  fig.  2),  or,  better,  there  is  a 
flange  at  the  upper  end  so  that  the}^  can  be  put  through  holes  bored 
in  the  bar  (see  figs.  1  and  2). 

TRANSFERRING    LARViE. 

Having  procured  the  cells  to  be  used,  with  the  requisite  bars,  the 
bee  keeper  is  ready  to  transfer  larvae  to  these  cells.     Before  being 


THE  REARING  OF  QUEEN  BEES. 


13 


used  for  the  first  time,  each  cell  .should  be  thoroughly  daubed  on  the 
inside  with  royal  jelly.  This  seems  to  give  to  it  the  odor  of  a  queen 
cell;  at  any  rate  the  bees  are  much  more  ready  to  accept  it.  A  small 
amount  of  royal  jelly  should  then  be  put  at  the  bottom  of  the  concave 


Fig.  2. — Standard  frame  with  bars  of  queen  cells  on  wooden  bases.    The  top  bar  holds  cells  of  the 

Root  pattern  (original). 

depression,  and  a  larva  from  the  colony  of  the  breeding  queen  placed 
on  it.  The  larva  must  not  be  more  than  three  days  old,  and  it  is  far 
better  to  use  one  which  has  not  been  hatched  from  the  egg  for  more 
than  one  day.     This  transfer  from  the  worker  cell  to  the  artificial 

queen  cell  may  be  done  with 
a  match  or  toothpick  which 
has  been  cut  thin  and  bent 
on  the  end  to  an  angle  of 
about  45  .  No  special  tool 
is  necessary,  although  when 
this  procedure  is  to  be  re- 
peated f  requently  it  may  be 
desirable  to  use  a  steel  rod 
or  .some  similar  instrument, 
shaped  as  above  described. 
The  bar  is  then  placed  in  a 
queenless  colony,  and  the 
bees  will  build  down  on  the 
cells    until    they   complete 

Fio.  3-Two-story  hive  with  perforated  zinc  honey  board      them,  at  the  Same  time  feed- 
between  stories,  the  top  to  be  used  for  queen  rearing     ingthe  lai'Vie  with  rovaljelly 

(original)-  until  the  time  comes  for  the 

cell  to  be  sealed.  As  a  rule  not  all  the  cells  are  accepted,  but  just  as 
many  will  be  accepted  in  the  case  of  artificial  cells  as  when  natural  cells 
are  fastened  to  a  bar.  as  previously  described.     If  a  two-story  hive  is 


14 


THE    REARING    OF    QUEEN    BEES. 


to  be  used,  the  bar  should  be  placed  in  the  upper,  and  the  queen  con- 
lined  in  the  lower,  story.  For  the  latter  purpose  a  perforated  zinc 
honey  board  (see  tig.  3)  should  be  used.  In  a  one-story  hive  the  bar 
should  be  surrounded  by  a  perforated  zinc  incubator.  A  larger  pro- 
portion of  cells  are  usually  accepted  in  a  queenless  colony.     In  case 


Fig.  4.— " Swarthmore "  incubator  holding  sixteen  cells  on  wooden  bases  (original). 

there  is  a  colony  with  an  old  queen  which  is  about  to  be  superseded,  a 
large  number  of  cells  may  be  started,  and  this  is  also  true  in  a  colony 
preparing  to  swarm.  Here,  too,  for  safety  the  queen  of  the  colon}7 
should  be  kept  away  from  the  cells  by  perforated  zinc. 


Fig.  5. — "Swarthmore  "  incubator  in  frame.    The  metal  supports  at  the  upper  ends  of  the  side  pieces 
of  the  frame  do  not  show  (original) 

The  chief  difficulty  in  rearing  queens  by  this  method  is  to  get  the 
cells  accepted.  Once  started,  they  are  usually  completed,  even  if 
transferred  to  a  colony  which  does  not  readily  accept  cells.  In  many 
cases  it  is  customary  to  start  cells  in  a  queenless  colon}7,  and  in  twenty  - 
f our  hours  to  transfer  the  bar  to  a  hive  with  a  queen,  putting  the  cell 


THE  REARING  OF  QUEEN  BEES.  15 

in  an  incubating  cage  of  zinc  (see  tigs,  -±  and  5).  This  gives  the  advan- 
tage of  starting  the  cells  under  the  most  favorable  conditions  for  their 
acceptance,  and  at  the  same  time  makes  it  unnecessary  to  have  so  many 
queenless  colonies  in  an  apiary,  which  is  obviously  not  economical. 

METHOD    OF    STARTING    CELLS. 

In  starting  cells  it  is  desirable  that  the  bar  be  placed  at  a  level  of 
about  3  inches  from  the  top  of  the  frames  when  standard-sized  frames 
are  used,  since  this  puts  the  cells  in  the  middle  of  the  brood  chamber 
where  the  heat  is  most  uniform.  This  can  be  done  by  the  method 
illustrated  in  tigures  1  and  2\  After  cells  are  once  started  they  may  be 
kept  at  almost  any  level  of  the  hive  so  long  as  they  are  fed  and  kept 
warm;  and  as  many  as  three  bars  may  be  fastened  in  one  frame  where 
there  are  plenty  of  bees  to  cover  all  of  them.  It  is  possible  to  put 
three  such  frames  of  started  cells  in  one  story  of  a  colony,  but  at  least 
one  frame  of  comb  should  be  between  each  two  cell  frames,  so  that  there 
may  not  be  too  large  an  opening  in  the  hive.  In  this  way  a  strong 
colony  will  readily  complete  and  care  for  more  than  a  hundred  cells. 

DIFFERENCE    IX    RACES. 

Here,  again,  racial  characteristics  play  a  large  part.  Italians  do  not 
as  readily  accept  and  complete  large  numbers  of  queen  cells  as  do 
either  Cyprians  or  Carniolans.  In  yards  in  which  Italian  queens  are 
reared,  it  riay  therefore  be  desirable  to  keep  colonies  of  Cyprians  or 
Carniolans.  It  need  scarcely  be  said  that  in  such  cases  drone  traps 
should  be  used.  No  fear  need  be  entertained  by  the  queen  breeder 
that  races  producing  large  numbers  of  queens  necessarily  produce 
poor  ones.  Anyone  familiar  with  the  proliticness  of  the  queens  of 
these  races  could  not  hold  such  an  idea.  There  is  no  evidence  that 
under  these  circumstances  the  larvae  are  less  well  fed;  indeed  in  such 
colonies,  as  in  those  with  fewer  queens  to  care  for,  the  larvae  always 
leave  some  royal  jelly  in  the  cells  when  they  enter  the  pupal  stage, 
during  which,  of  course,  no  food  is  eaten. 

SWARM    BOX. 

Since  the  greatest  difficulty  with  this  part  of  queen  rearing  is  in 
getting  the  cells  started,  it  is  fortunate  that  we  have  a  method  by 
which  the  matter  may  be  made  more  certain.  It  is  desirable  to  get 
bees  into  the  condition  in  which  they  will  start  large  numbers  of  cells; 
this  can  be  done  b}r  the  use  of  what  is  known  as  the  "  swarm  box."  We 
know  that  when  bees  are  in  too  cramped  quarters  they  acquire  the 
swarming  impulse,  and  that  under  this  influence  they  begin  to  rear 
queens;  hence  if  we  confine  bees  in  a  hive  or  box  the  same  condition 
is  brought  about,  but  ir  a  much  shorter  time.     Whether  the  condition 


16 


THE  REARING  OF  QUEEN  BEES. 


under  confinement  is  the  same  as  the  swarming  impulse,  we  cio  not 
know  definitely;  but,  what  is  more  to  the  purpose,  we  do  know  that 
they  accept  large  numbers  of  queen  cells. 

DESCRIPTION    OF    BOX. 

A  style  of  swarm  box  which  has  proven  very  satisfactory  in  the 
Department  apiary  is  made  large  enough  to  hold  five  frames  of 
standard  Langstroth  size  (see  figs.  6  and  7).     The  bottom  is  covered 

with  wire  cloth,  and 
small  wooden  strips, 
nailed  on  each  end, 
raise  the  bottom  from 
the  table  or  floor  on 
which  the  box  rests  and 
thus  allow  abundant 
ventilation.  The  top 
of  the  box  is  remov- 
able, and  has  cut  in  it 
two  slots,  into  which 
are  fitted  two  cell  bars. 
Holes  are  bored  in  the 
latter  to  accommodate 
16  flanged  wooden  cell 
bases .  These  slots, 
which  run  almost  the 
entire  length  of  the 
box,  are  so  placed  that 


Fig.  6. — Swarm  box,  showing  position  of  frames  and  inner  side  of 
lid,  with  wooden  cells  in  place,  ready  for  bees  (original). 


if  a  frame  of  comb  be  put  on  each  side  of  the  box  and  another  exactty 
in  the  middle,  the  slots  are  directly  above  the  intervening  spaces.  This 
then  places  the  cell  cups  directly  over  the  two  spaces  left  in  the  box. 

METHOD    OP  .USE. 

In  practice,  this  box  is  placed  on  the  ground  in  front  of  any  hive 
from  which  a  considerable  number  of  bees  can  be  taken.  The  two 
side  frames  are  placed  in  the  box,  and  bees  from  about  six  frames  of 
the  hive  are  shaken  into  it,  the  middle  frame  is  inserted,  and  the  box 
is  closed.  The  slots  should  contain  the  cell  bars  and  the  wooden  cells, 
which  are,  however,  still  empty.  The  frames  used  in  the  swarm  box 
must  contain  honey,  pollen,  and  water,  but  no  brood,  and  the  operator 
must  be  absolutely  sure  that  the  queen  of  the  colony  from  which  the 
bees  are  drawn  is  not  in  the  swarm  box.  To  allow  easy  manipulation, 
the  lid  of  the  box  should  be  nailed  down  or  otherwise  secured  and  the 
box  removed  to  a  cellar  or  other  cool  place  for  about  six  hours.  It 
has  been  found  even  better  to  use  only  one  frame,  properly  provi- 
sioned, in  place  of  three,  placing  it  in  the  middle  of  the  box;  but  for 


THE    REARING    OF    QHEEN    BEES. 


17 


the  beginner  the  use  of  three  frames  is  recommended.      When  only 
one  is  used  more  bees  should  be  shaken  into  the  box. 

At  the  end  of  about  six  hours  the  wooden  cell  bases  are  removed 
one  at  a  time,  using  an  extra  base  as  a  plug  to  prevent  the  escape  of 
any  of  the  bees,  and  into  each  base  is  placed  a  little  royal  jelly  and  a 
very  3'oung  larva  from  the  colony  of  the  breeding  queen.  It  is  not 
absolutely  necessary  to  use  royal  jelly  at  this  time,  for  if  enough  of 
the  larval  food  be  transferred  from  the  worker  cell  with  the  larva  to 


Fig.  7. — Swarm  box  from  below,  with  top  of  lid.    A  blank  bar  is  in  place  in  one  slot,  as  used  when 
only  sixteen  cells  are  to  be  started  (original). 

keep  it  moist  for  a  short  time,  the  confined  bees  will  secrete  royal  jelly 
so  rapidly  that  the  larvae  will  neither  dry  up  nor  starve.  However. 
in  every-day  manipulation  it  may  be  better  to  use  a  very  little  royal 
jelly,  and  the  small  amount  of  extra  time  required  for  this  is,  in  the 
hands  of  most  manipulators,  generally  repaid  by  the  fact  that  more 
cells  are  accepted.  The  cell  bases  now  containing  larvae  having  all 
been  replaced,  the  swarm  box  is  covered  with  a  quilt  to  keep  the  cells 
warm  and  is  put  away  until  the  next  morning,  at  which  time  the  box 


18  THE  REARING  OF  QUEEN  BEES. 

is  opened,  the  bees  shaken  out  in  front  of  their  old  hive,  and  the  cells 
on  bars  hung  in  any  colony  which  will  complete  cells.  By  this  method 
a  much  larger  proportion  of  cells  will  be  accepted,  and  the  time 
required  is  very  small.  A  schedule,  which  is  in  use  in  the  Department 
apiary  during  the  queen-rearing  season,  for  the  use  of  the  swarm  box, 
may  not  be  out  of  place  here  to  illustrate  the  small  amount  of  time 
required  for  this  manipulation,  and  to  be  used  as  a  working  plan: 

9  a.  m.     Shake  bees  into  swarm  box.     ( About  5  minutes. ) 

3  p.m.     Insert  royal  jelly  and  transfer  larvae  to  cell   cups.     (About  10-15 

minutes. ) 
9  a.  m.  (next  day ).     Shake  out  bees  and  place  cells  in  colony  to  be  completed. 

(About  5  minutes. ) 

While  the  construction  of  a  special  box  and  this  manipulation  may 
seem  like  an  undue  amount  of  labor,  the  schedule  shows  that  such  is 
not  the  case.  In  actual  use  in  the  apiary  of  the  Department  of  Agri- 
culture, it  has  been  found  not  only  to  save  time,  but  to  be  more  satis- 
factory in  every  other  way,  particularly  in  the  larger  number  and 
more  uniform  feeding  of  the  cells  accepted. 

The  swarm  box  has  been  criticised  in  various  quarters  as  being 
opposed  to  the  natural  habits  of  the  bees,  and  it  is  supposed  that  this 
is  a  valid  reason  for  condemning  it.  It  is  a  popular  fallacy  among 
some  bee  keepers  that  there  must  be  absolutely  no  departure  from  the 
natural  instincts  of  the  bees,  and  a  new  or  strange  idea  is  frequently 
condemned  on  these  false  grounds.  The  same  men  will  use  movable 
frame  hives  and  queen  mailing  cages,  and  will  remove  honey  from  the 
hives  either  by  extracting  or  in  the  far  more  unnatural  section.  We 
must,  as  pointed  out  previously,*  know  the  habits  of  the  bees;  but 
equally  important  in  practical  work  is  a  knowledge  of  the  amount  of 
flexibility  in  the  instinct.  In  fact,  modern  apiculture  has  come  to  be 
a  study  of  the  modification  of  conditions  under  which  bees  can  thrive 
to  bring  about  the  best  results  for  the  bee  keeper. 

ALLEY    SYSTEM    OF    CELL    STARTING. 

There  is  another  method  of  starting  queen  cells  which  gives  very 
good  results.  Mr.  Henry  Alley  recommends  that  a  strip  of  comb, 
with  young  larvae  from  the  breeding  queen,  be  cut  wide  enough  for 
one  row  of  complete  cells  to  remain  intact.  The  outer  portions  of  the 
cells  on  one  side  are  cut  away  and  every  second  larva  is  killed  or 
removed.  This  strip  is  then  fastened  to  the  bottom  of  a  comb  with 
the  open  ends  pointing  downward,  and  the  whole  put  in  any  colony 
used  for  cell  building.  The  queen  cells  are  built  very  regularly  and 
a  large  proportion  are  accepted.  In  the  apiary  of  the  Bureau  it  has 
been  found  easier  to  use  partly  drawn  out  foundation  in  which  are 
young  larvae,  as  shown  in  figure  8,  thus  avoiding  the  cutting  away  of 

aSee  "Natural  queen  rearing,"  p.  9. 


THE  HEARING  OF  QUEEN  BEES. 


19 


the  ends  of  cells.  This  method  is  very  simple,  since  it  does  away  with 
the  necessity  for  transferring,  and  gives  good  results;  but  the  cells 
must  be  cut  apart  to  be  put  in  nurseries,  and  in  this  manipulation  they 
lack  the  firmness  of  cells  with  wooden  bases.  It  has  also  been  recom- 
mended that  drone  comb  be  used  in  the  same  way,  and  that  a  larva  be 
transferred  into  every  other  cell.  This  plan,  however,  does  not 
possess  the  one  really  good  feature  of  the  Alley  method,  and  has  there- 
fore nothing  to  commend  it. 

THE    USE    OF    ;"  COCOONS." 

Another  plan,  used  by  several  queen  breeders,  is  that  of  transferring 
the  larva  in  the  "  cocoon  "  to  an  artificial  cell  cup.  The  comb  is  cut 
down  until  quite  thin  (about  three-sixteenths  inch),  and  then  bent 
back  and  forth  until  the  lining  of  larval  skins  and  the  excreta,  gener- 


Fig.  8.— Frame  with  a  strip  of  foundation  only  partly  drawn  out,  with  larvre  in  cells,  cut  according 
t<>  Alley  plan  of  cell  starting  (original). 

ally  called  the  ** cocoon"  by  bee  keepers,  is  loosened.  This  is  trans- 
ferred by  forceps,  or  on  the  end  of  a  rounded  stick  with  a  depression 
in  the  end.  This  plan  does  not  require  the  use  of  royal  jelly;  but  it 
takes  considerable  practice  to  make  the  transfer  successfully  and  seems 
to  be  no  better  than  the  method  of  transferring  larva1  alone. 

COMPLETING  OTEEN    CELLS. 


INCUBATORS. 

The  carrying  up  of  queen  cells  to  the  time  when  the  adult  virgin 
queen  emerges  is  much  easier  than  the  starting  of  the  cells.  Cells 
once  started  may  be  hung  in  a  queenless  colony  without  any  covering 
or  protection,  and  it  is  an  easy  matter  to  have  a  large  number  cared 
for.     In  the  practical  work  of  the  Department  apiary  it  is  customary 


20 


THE    REARING    OF    QUEEN    BEES, 


to  use  cell  bars  holding  sixteen  cells  each,  and  two  or  three  of  these 
bars  are  fastened  in  one  Langstroth  frame.  Frequently  two  or  even 
three  such  frames  are  put  in  one  hive;  but  usually  part  of  the  cells  are 
sealed  or  in  nurseries,  so  that  there  are  usually  not  more  than  fifty  at 
a  time  which  require  feeding.  These  cells  ma}'  also  be  put  in  any 
colony  with  a  laying  queen,  provided  an  incubating  cage  of  perforated 
zinc  is  placed  around  them  (see  figs.  4  and  5),  or  in  the  second  story  of 
a  two-stor}^  colon}^,  with  the  queen  kept  below  by  a  perforated  zinc- 
honey  board  (see  fig.  3). 

STYLES  OF  NURSERY  CAGES. 

One  day  before  the  queens  are  due  to  emerge,  each  cell  must  be 
placed  in  an  individual  nursery,  so  that  the  young  emerging  queens 
can  not  attack  each  other.     This  nursery  may  be  made  of  wire  cloth 


Fig.  9. — Titoff  nurseries  in  frame  holder,  showing  construction  of  nursery  (original) . 

or  of  perforated  zinc,  but  wire  cloth  is  perhaps  better,  since  in  one  or 
two  cases  in  our  apiary,  during  the  past  summer,  young  virgin  queens 
managed  to  get  through  the  perforated  zinc  and  to  do  some  damage 
before  being  discovered.  The  cell  should  not  be  put  in  a  wire-cloth 
nursery  more  than  one  day  before  the  queen  is  due  to  emerge,  for  the 
workers  should  be  allowed  to  thin  down  the  wall  of  the  cell  so  that  the 
queen  will  have  no  difficulty  in  gnawing  her  wa}^  out.  Even  when 
separated  from  the  workers  by  wire  cloth  for  one  day,  the  queen 
usually  takes  a  longer  time  in  getting  out,  but  no  queen  which  has 
vitality  enough  to  become  a  prolific  layer  will  ever  entirely  fail  to  do  so. 
Many  different  kinds  of  nursery  cages  have  been  advocated^  and 
really  there  is  little  choice  between  them,  each  queen  breeder  prefer- 
ring the  one  he  has  used,  the  choice  frequently  being  made  without 
trying  any  other.     Before  making  a  choice,  however,  it  would  be  wise 


THE  REARING  OF  QUEEN  BEES. 


21 


for  the  prospective  queen  breeder  to  study  the  problem.  The  ideal 
nursery  cage  must  at  the  same  time  be  an  introducing  cage;  so  that 
from  the  time  when  the  queen  cell  is  put  in  until  the  queen  is  trans- 
ferred to  another  hive  to  be  mated,  no  attention  is  necessary  except  to 
uncover  the  candy  plug  to  allow  the  workers  to  eat  the  queen  out. 
The  Stanley  cage,  consisting  of  a  cylinder  of  perforated  zinc,  will  do 


Fig.  10. — "  Swarthmore  "  nursery,  with  queens.    Two  cells  removed  to  show  construction  (original ). 

very  well,  provided  it  is  modified  so  that  it  can  be  used  as  an  intro- 
ducing cage,  but  it  is  awkward  and  not  easily  handled  in  a  hive.  The 
long  West  cell  protector  is  also  good,  except  that  it  is  not  so  conven- 
ient for  introducing  and  does  not  lit  into  any  bar,  but  must  be  stuck 
on  a  comb.     It  ma}T  also  be  added  that  any  cell  protector  is  worse  than 


Fig.  11. — "Swarthmore"  nursery  dissected  (original). 

useless  where  artificial  cells  are  used.  Where  the  old  method  of  cut- 
ting natural  cells  from  colonies  and  transferring  these  cells  to  queenless 
colonies  is  practiced,  a  cell  protector  is  desirable  and  almost  necessary, 
since  the  workers  in  repairing  the  cut  edges  of  comb  often  gnaw 
entirely  into  the  cell  and  kill  the  queen.  The  author  has  never  known 
this  to  happen  on  artificial  cells,     The  Titoff  cage  (fig.  9)  is  also  very 


22 


THE  BEARING  OF  QUEEN  BEES. 


good,  but  has  the  disadvantage  of  being  awkward  to  handle  in  a  frame 
and  of  being  made  for  use  without  flanged  cell  cups.  It  is  a  con- 
venient cage  for  introducing,  however. 

The  Alley  nursery,  consisting  of  a  block  of  wood  with  a  large  hole 
bored  through  it,  is  excellent.     The  openings  are  covered  with  wire 


Fig.  12.— "  Swarthmore  "  nurseries  in  frame,  showing  method  of  storing  forty-eight  queens  (original) . 

cloth,  and  a  hole  for  the  queen  cell  and  one  for  the  candy  plug  are 
bored  to  meet  the  central  hole.  It  will  be  found  that  a  cage  made 
with  a  wooden  frame  will  be  better  than  an  all-metal  cage,  since  it  is 


Fig.  13.— A  style  of  cage  which  answers  all  the  requirements  for  convenience  and  usefulness  as  nur- 
sery and  introducing  cage  (original). 

more  easily  placed  in  the  hive  in  any  desired  location,  and  is  held  in 
place  with  propolis.  These  nurseries  can  be  placed  in  an  empty  frame, 
and  left  until  the  frame  is  filled  solid  with  them;  and  in  this  way  a 
colony  will  keep  a  good  many  cells  warm  until  the  queens  emerge. 


THE  REARING  OF  QUEEN  BEES. 


23 


Fig.  14. 


Swarthmore"  nucleus  with  one  frame  removed 
to  --how  construction  (original). 


The  Swarthmore  nursery,  shown  in  figures  10, 11,  and  12,  is  excellent 
also,  but  it  is  unfortunate  that  when  this  form  is  used  the  queens  must 
be  removed  to  introducing  cages.  This  nursery  is  more  valuable  when 
used  for  keeping  queens  on 
hand  for  some  time  after 
mating.  Queens  can  be  re- 
moved from  the  mating  col- 
onies and  stored  in  them  for 
several  weeks  even,  without 
any  harm;  and  the  mating 
colony  can  be  used  several 
times  in  that  period  for  mat- 
ing other  queens.  The  size 
of  this-  nursery  is  very  con- 
venient, and  48  queens  may 
be  kept  in  a  frame,  as  shown 
in  figure  12.  In  the  illus- 
tration these  queens  were 
actually  Caucasian  virgins,  and  the  nursery  had  been  used  for 
emerging  queens.  This  is  not  the  most  convenient  nursery  for  virgin 
queens,  and  the  author  understands  that  the  originator,  Mr.  E.  L.  Pratt. 

does  not  so  use  it. 

A  nursery,  then,  should  be  so 
constructed  that  the  queen  will  be 
separated  from  the  workers  by 
wire  cloth;  should  be  of  such  a 
form  that  any  style  of  artificial 
queen  cell  may  be  placed  in  it: 
should  contain  a  place  for  candy 
as  food  for  the  young  queen;  and 
should  above  all  be  useful  as  an 
introducing  cage.  The  use  of  a 
special  introducing  cage  of  any 
type  is  not  generally  recommended. 
Even  in  introducing  queens  re- 
ceived by  mail  the  shipping  cage  is 
as  good  as  any  "improved"  intro- 
ducing cage  and  saves  time. 

INTRODUCING    QUEEN    CELLS. 

Fig.  15.— "Swarthmore"  nucleus  with  introducing 
cage  (as  in  fig.  13)  in  place  between  the  frames        But  it  may  be  asked,   "  Why  not 

(original)-  introduce  queen  cells  directly  to  the 

colony  where  the  queen  is  to  stay  until  mated  ? "  This  method  is  all 
right  where  time  is  no  object;  but  the  queens  might  just  as  well  be 
kept  in  a  nursery  until  three  to  five  days  old,  and  thus  they  need  not 


24  THE  REARING  OF  QUEEN  BEES. 

be  in  the  mating-  colony  more  than  four  or  five  days.  If  a  queen  cell 
be  placed  in  a  mating  colony  it  means  that  for  a  day  or  two  before  the 
queen  emerges,  and  for  at  least  five  days  before  she  mates,  the  colony 
is  unproductive;  and  commercial  queen  breeders  can  not  afford  such  a 
loss.  Such  a  method  of  introduction  is  easier,  it  is  true,  but  certainty 
is  not  economical.  In  introducing  from  a  nursery  it  sometimes  hap- 
pens that  queens  are  killed,  but  even  this  loss  is  not  great  enough  to 
justify  the  method  of  introducing  cells,  especially  since  queens  from 
cells  are  sometimes  rejected  also. 

The  practice  of  putting  a  little  honey  on  the  tip  of  the  queen  cell 
when  in  a  nursery,  so  that  the  emerging  queen  may  have  something  to 
eat  while  gnawing  her  way  out  is  not  necessary,  and  has,  when  prac- 
ticed, sometimes  led  to  the  death  of  the  queen  by  suffocation. 

M  ATING^QUEENS . 

The  best  method  of  mating  queens  has  perhaps  been  more  discussed 
by  bee  keepers  than  any  other  phase  of  queen  rearing,  the  bone  of 
contention  being  the  size  of  the  colony  which  shall  be  used  in  mating. 

Some  bee  keepers  insist  that  queens  should  be  mated  only  in  full 
colonies,  while  others  go  to  the  opposite  extreme  and  claim  that  only 
a  handful  of  bees  are  necessary  to  care  for  a  queen  during  this  period 
of  her  life. 

COMPARISON    OF    DIFFERENT    SIZES    OF    BOXES. 

A  comparison  of  the  cost  of  the  two  methods  will  help  to  solve  the 
difficulty,  for  bee  keeping  is  a  business  proposition,  and  bee  keepers 
desire  the  most  return  for  the  least  expenditure  of  either  time  or 
money.  Mating  in  a  colony  means  that  that  colony  is  without  any 
new  brood  for  about  a  week;  and  since  during  the  summer  season  the 
life  of  the  average  worker  is  about  six  weeks,  the  loss  resulting  is 
about  equal  to  one-sixth  the  cost  of  the  colony  used.  This  is  to  some 
extent  made  up  by  the  increased  activity  in  brood  rearing  after  such 
a  period  of  rest;  but  at  any  rate  a  colony  can  make  no  increase  in  size 
when  queens  are  being  mated,  and  there  is  almost  always  a  loss.  From 
this  standpoint,  then,  the  smaller  the  colony,  the  cheaper  this  part  of 
the  rearing  will  be;  and  if  this  were  the  only  point  to  be  considered 
there  could  be  but  one  answer  to  the  question. 

The  time  spent  in  manipulation  is  an  important  item,  especially 
where  large  numbers  of  queens  are  to  be  reared.  It  is  more  difficult 
to  introduce  a  queen  into  a  large  colony  than  into  a  small  one,  and 
this  is  a  factor  to  be  considered,  since  the  chances  for  occasional  losses 
of  queens  which  may  result  in  considerable  loss  of  time  are  much 
reduced  by  the  use  of  small  colonies.  In  looking  over  mating  colonies 
to  see  whether  the  queen  is  laying,  there  is  everything  to  be  said  in 
favor  of  the  small  colony  or  ^nucleus."     There  is  less  comb  area  to 


THE  REARING  OF  QUEEN  BEES.  25 

be  covered,  and,  if  any  eggs  are  present,  it  is  easy  to  see  them  at  a 
glance:  but  the  chief  gain  is  in  the  time  spent  in  finding  the  queen 
to  remove  her  from  the  colony.  To  go  over  8  or  10  or  even  3  or  -1  full 
frames  requires  ten  times  as  much  time  as  to  open  up  a  small  nucleus 
and  pick  off  the  queen  almost  at  the  first  glance.  This  much  is  in 
favor  of  small  colonies,  certainly. 

There  are,  on  the  other  hand,  certain  disadvantages  in  the  use  of 
very  small  nuclei  in  the  hands  of  the  inexperienced.  Queens  can  be 
mated  from  small  boxes  with  a  comb  area  not  greater  than  that  of  a 
1-pound  section  of  honey,  and  with  a  mere  handful  of  bees;  but 
experienced  bee  keepers  have  failed  to  make  these  work  successfully, 
merely  through  ignorance  of  the  special  manipulation  necessary  for 
the  smaller  colonies.  The  complaint  is  also  sometimes  made  that  these 
nuclei  are  robbed  out  because  the  small  number  of  bees  will  not  defend 
the  hive  against  invaders  and  that  the  colony  will  "swarm  out"  or 
leave  the  box  because  it  is  too  small.  It  is  also  claimed  that  the 
nucleus  will  not  be  a  success  unless  there  is  unsealed  brood  in  the  comb 
to  hold  the  bees.  All  of  these  general  statements  are  too  broad,  for 
such  colonies  are  not  more  easily  robbed  than  large  ones,  do  not  swarm 
out  if  properly  made,  and  brood  is  unnecessary  under  some  circum- 
stances. However,  there  is  a  foundation  for  these  complaints,  every 
one  of  which  comes  from  experienced  men. 

The  entrance  to  a  nucleus  of  the  smallest  size  should  be  very  small, 
so  that  one  bee  can  protect  the  hive  from  several  robbers.  If,  by  any 
chance,  a  small  colony  without  brood  becomes  queenless,  it  will  almost 
invariably  swarm  out,  and  to  this  must  be  attributed  most  of  the  cases 
so  reported.  Unsealed  brood  undoubtedly  helps  to  hold  the  bees  in  the 
colony,  and  certainly  should  be  used  in  most  cases.  After  the  first 
laying  queen  is  removed  from  a  nucleus,  this  brood  will  be  present; 
and  from  that  time  on  there  is  no  difficulty.  To  prevent  the  bees 
from  swarming  out  with  the  first  queen,  brood  may  be  given  to  them. 
If,  however,  the  bees  are  confined  in  the  colony  for  some  time  (to 
which  there  is  no  valid  objection),  they  will  rarely  swarm  out,  even 
without  brood,  and  to  remove  them  to  an  out  yard  lessens  this  difficulty 
still  further. 

Nuclei  with  not  more  than  a  few  dozen  bees  will  mate  a  queen,  and 
this  has  been  done,  and  is  being  done  repeatedly.  There  is  objec- 
tion, however,  to  the  use  of  the  smallest  nuclei  in  the  hands  of  the 
inexperienced,  for  they  will  die  out  unless  watched,  and  often  require 
restocking.  In  a  large  queen-rearing  yard,  this  frequently  amounts 
to  considerable  labor,  and  to  avoid  that  feature  a  somewhat  larger 
nucleus  is  desirable.  Bee  keepers  are  not  always  adepts  at  handling 
small  nuclei,  and  in  actual  practice  a  colon}'  should  be  in  such  condi- 
tion that  it  can  be  handled  quickly,  safely,  and  sometimes  even  rather 
roughly. 


26 


THE  BEARING  OF  QUEEN  BEES. 


A  size  of  nucleus  which  has  proven  to  save  both  time  and  labor  in 
the  apiary  of  the  Department  of  Agriculture  is  one  having  a  comb 
area  somewhat  less  than  one  standard  Langstroth  frame.  The  hive 
bodies  were  originally  made  large  enough  to  hold  five  frames,  as  shown 


Fig.  16.— Benton  mating  boxes,  showing  method  of  combining  frames  to  make 
frame,  and  positions'  of  feeders  (original). 


standard  sized 


in  figure  16;  but,  in  practice,  three  or  even  two  are  used,  ana  the  extra 
room  is  an  advantage  in  moving  the  frames  quickly.  The  construction 
of  the  frames  is  shown  better  in  the  illustration  than  could  be  done  by 
a  written  description.  Any  frame  used  in  a  nucleus  should  be  so  made 
that  it  can  be  used  as  part  of 
a  standard-sized  frame,  or  so 
that  a  number  of  them  fit  into 
an  empty  frame;  for  other- 
wise it  is  difficult  to  get  them 
filled  with  honey  and  brood 
before  making  up  the  nuclei. 
The  frames  of  this  particular 
nucleus  box  are  one-third 
standard  size,  and  two  full 
ones  and  one  only  partly 
built  out  have  given  most 
satisfactory  results.  If  the 
bees  are  read}T  to  build,  some 
place  should  be  left  for  new 
comb;  otherwise  they  will 
build  small  combs  to  the 
cover.  A  feeder  is  attached 
either  to  the  back  of  the  hive  bod}^  or  in  front  over  the  entrance,  and 
these  can  be  filled  very  rapidty  when  feeding  is  necessary.  A  colony 
of  this  size  requires  much  less  attention  in  this  regard  than  the  smaller 
size,  and  is  correspondingly  better. 


Fig.  17.— Benton  mailing  cages,  showing  construction. 
The  larger  size  is  for  shipment  to  distant  countries. 
The  smaller  cage  may  be  used  for  shipments  to  Europe 
(original). 


THE  REARING  OF  QUEEN  BEES.  Z  ( 

The  comb  area  is  small  enough  in  this  hive  for  the  queen  to  be  very 
quickly  found,  and.  unless  too  many  boos  arc  put  in,  this  part  of  the 
manipulation  is  very  simple.  The  original  cost  of  the  hive  is  consid- 
erably more  than  that  of  the  smallest  sized  nuclei,  but  the  body  is 
much  more  durable,  and  the  cost  as  compared  with  that  of  the  full- 
sized  hive,  which  some  breeders  use,  is  small.  This  mating  box  was 
designed  by  Mr.  Frank  Benton,  of  the  Bureau  of  Entomology.  It  is 
not  intended  that  the  inference  shall  be  made  that  this  nucleus  box  is 
the  best  in  use.  It  is  described  merely  as  a  guide  to  queen  rearers, 
and  any  other  style  of  box  which  combines  the  good  features  of  this 
one  will  do  equally  well. 

No  one  can  deny  that  queens  may  be  mated  in  hives  smaller  than  a 
full  colony,  but  a  question  sometimes  arises  as  to  whether  the  queens 
are  as  vigorous  and  prolific  after  being  mated  from  small  boxes.  To 
this,  it  may  be  answered  that  the  successful  mating  of  a  queen  depends 
on  the  drones  which  fly  in  the  air;  and  this  is  in  no  way  influenced  by 
the  size  of  the  hive.  It  takes  very  few  workers  to  feed  a  queen — wit- 
ness the  mailing  boxes — and  this  is  the  only  function  of  the  accompa- 
nying bees.  If  then  a  queen  is  herself  strong  and  vigorous,  and  meets 
an  equally  vigorous  drone,  she  will  be  successfully  mated,  will  be  just 
as  prolific,  and  will  lav  just  as  long,  when  kept  in  a  small  colony  to 
mate  as  in  a  full-sized  one.  From  a  practical  standpoint  it  may  be 
answered  that  queens  mated  in  small  nuclei  when  put  to  the  test  have 
actually  proven  as  good  as  those  mated  under  other  circumstances. 
This  is  after  all  the  true  test  to  be  used. 

PHENOMENA    IN    MATING. 

In  from  five  to  ten  days  after  the  emerging  of  the  young  queen 
from  the  queen  cell,  she  leaves  the  colony  for  her  mating  flight.  The 
first  nights  of  a  queen  from  the  hive  are  very  short,  and,  like  young 
workers,  she  Hies  in  circles  near  the  entrance,  as  if  fixing  the  location. 
Several  such  nights  may  be  taken  before  she  really  takes  a  long  one. 
Finally,  however,  she  leaves  the  entrance  and  Hies  in  ever-increasing 
circles  upward,  and,  if  there  are  drones  in  the  apiary  or  near  by,  she 
is  usually  mated.  The  height  to  which  she  flies  and  the  distance  from 
the  hive  at  which  she  meets  the  drone  depend  entirely  on  circum- 
stances; it  may  be  near  at  hand  or  even  a  couple  of  miles  away.  This 
is  a  matter  very  difficult  of  observation,  naturally,  but  the  mating  has 
often  been  observed  by  chance.  It  is  a  very  simple  matter  to  see  the 
first  circles  of  the  virgin  on  leaving  the  hive  entrance,  and  if  drones 
are  plentiful  it  is  not  hard  to  see  that  many  of  them  start  after  her. 
Anyone  can  verify  so  much;  the  rest  depends  on  chance  observations. 

From  dissections  of  virgins  and  fertile  queens,  it  has  been  found 
that,  in  mating,  the  spermatheca  or  seminal  receptacle  is  filled  with 
spermatozoa  or  male  sex  cells.     The  spermatheca  is  a  very  minute  sac 


28  THE  REARING  OF  QUEEN  BEES. 

opening  into  the  oviduct  down  which  the  eggs  must  pass  in  going  from 
the  ovaries  to  the  outside  of  the  bod}^.  As  each  egg  is  laid,  if  it  is  to 
be  fertilized,  it  receives  one  spermatozoon  from  this  spermatheca,  and 
the  male  cell  is  received  into  the  egg  and  unites  with  it.  More  than 
one  spermatozoon  ma\r  adhere  to  the  outside  of  the  egg,  but  no  normal 
egg  will  admit  more  than  one  through  the  micropyle  or  opening  in  the 
end  of  the  egg  covering. 

In  mating,  the  queen  receives  an  enormous  number  of  these  sperma- 
tozoa, the  number  having  been  estimated  at  from  two  to  twenty 
million.  Since  mating  usually  occurs  but  once,  it  is  evident  that  these 
spermatozoa  must  be  capable  of  independent  existence  for  five  years 
or  more,  for  they  are  not  capable  of  dividing  or  increasing  in  number 
in  any  way,  and  the  queen  is  of  course  unable  to  produce  new  ones. 
Frequent  cases  have  been  reported  of  queens  which  have  mated  more 
than  once,  and  this  probably  accounts  for  irregularity  in  the  markings 
of  the  offspring  of  some  queens.  It  is  claimed  by  some  that  obviously 
the  first  mating  must  have  been  unsuccessful,  but  there  seems  to  be 
no  ground  for  that  view,  and  there  is  no  reason  to  believe  that  both 
matings  were  not  complete.  There  is  no  reason  whatever,  so  far  as 
is  known,  why  a  queen  can  not  receive  a  supply  of  spermatozoa  from 
two  drones,  and  some  of  the  arguments  to  the  contrar}7,  with  no  basis 
of  observation  or  knowledge  of  the  anatomy,  are  not  worthy  of  con- 
sideration. Cases  have  even  been  reported  in  which  queens  which 
have  actually  begun  to  lay  have  gone  out  for  a  second  mating;  but  the 
evidence  is  as  }^et  meager,  and  it  will  be  well  to  wait  for  further  obser- 
vation before  considering  such  a  possibility.  Usually,  however,  a 
queen  takes  but  one  mating  flight,  and  thereafter  never  again  leaves 
the  hive  except  with  a  swarm.  The  ovaries  develop  to  such  an  extent 
that  flight  is  impossible,  without  a  previous  stoppage  in  egg  lajdng. 

TESTING  QUEENS. 

If  the  honey  producer  is  rearing  queens  for  his  own  use,  they  may 
be  introduced  into  full  colonies  as  soon  as  they  begin  to  lay.  A  fair 
idea  of  the  value  of  the  queen  may  be  formed  from  the  number  and 
regularity  of  the  eggs  laid  in  the  nucleus  box,  and  if  later  she  is  found 
to  be  mismated,  or  not  up  to  the  standard  in  egg  laying  in  a  full  col- 
ony, she  should  be  discarded.  A  queen  may  be  tested  as  to  the  purity 
of  mating  by  allowing  her. brood  to  emerge  in  a  small  nucleus,  but  no 
estimate  can  be  made  in  this  way  concerning  her  proliticness.  In  test- 
ing for  pure  mating,  however,  the  entrance  should  be  covered  with 
perforated  zinc  to  prevent  the  colony  from  swarming  out.  If  a  queen 
is  to  be  sold  as  "untested,"  she  may  be  shipped  as  soon  as  she  begins 
to  lay  after  mating.  Tested  queens  are  those  which  have  been  kept 
until  their  progeny  show  the  markings  of  pure  mating. 


THE  BEARING  OF  QUEEN  BEES.  29 

Tested  queens  which  have  been  kept  in  full  colonies  to  observe 
purity  of  mating,  and  which  after  one  season  show  that  they  possess 
ability  to  produce  strong  colonies,  are  sold  as  ''select  tested."'  How- 
ever, it  is  to  be  feared  that  some  queen  breeders  are  not  careful  enough 
about  this  test  and  that  queens  are  often  sold  under  this  guaranty  which 
are  simply  tested  queens  one  year  old,  which  simply  means  that  their 
life  of  usefulness  is  thereby  shorter  by  one  year.  For  breeding,  nothing 
but  the  very  best  of  ' ;  select  tested  "  queens  should  be  used.  Great  care 
should  be  exercised  in  choosing  such  queens  by  watching  purity  of 
mating,  prolificness.  honey  production  of  workers,  disposition  of  bees, 
tendency  to  keep  a  very  large  colony  of  bees  at  all  seasons;  and  especially, 
care  should  be  taken  that  brood  rearing  does  not  cease  as  soon  as  the 
honey  flow  slackens  in  midsummer.  Some  bees,  otherwise  good,  will 
stop  brood  rearing  with  the  first  sign  of  a  decrease  in  hone}T,  with  the 
result  that  the  colony  enters  the  fall  flow  with  old  bees,  and  that 
scarcely  anything  but  old  bees  are  in  the  colony  at  the  beginning  of 
winter.  This  is  probably  the  essential  cause  of  the  excessive  death  of 
bees  in  early  spring,  known  as  ''spring  dwindling." 

NECESSITY  OF  PURE  STOCK. 

The  necessity  of  purely -mated  queens  for  breeding  can  not  be  too 
emphatically  urged.  The  so-called  "  hybrids,"  or  mismated  queens, 
produce  young  queens  of  so  much  variability  in  every  character  that 
it  is  very  unwise  to  use  them.  There  is  one  phase  of  queen  breeding 
which  would  doubtless  prove  useful,  but  which  has  not  }Tet  been  tried 
to  any  extent.  The  first  crosses  of  various  races  have  proven  very 
useful;  as,  for  example,  the  cross  between  Cyprians  and  Carniolans, 
but  no  breeder  to  the  writers  knowledge  has  ever  undertaken  to  fix 
the  type.  That  this  could  be  done  seems  very  probable,  reasoning 
from  what  we  know  of  crosses  in  other  animals,  and  by  careful  selec- 
tion of  prolific  queens  whose  workers  showed  all  the  characteristics 
of  the  first  cross,  these  crosses  would  doubtless  prove  valuable  as 
breeders.  Under  no  other  circumstances,  however,  should  mismated 
queens  be  used. 

SELECTION  OF  DRONES. 

The  selection  of  drones  is  one  of  the  things  in  which  the  vast 
majority  of  bee  keepers  are  notoriously  careless.  Queen  breeders 
will  select  a  breeding  queen  with  great  care  and  allow  her  progeny  to 
mate  with  drones  from  any  hive  in  the  apiary,  and  just  as  long  as  this 
is  done  there  can  be  no  advance  in  the  types.  Drones  should  not  be 
allowed  to  fly  except  from  colonies  where  the  queens  are  prolific  and 
the  bees  good  workers,  and  just  as  much  care  should  be  exercised  in 
the  choice  of  colonies  for  the  production  of  drones  as  for  breeding 


30  THE  REARING  OF  QUEEN  BEES. 

queens.  The  mere  fact  that  mating-  takes  place  in  the  air,  out  of  the 
control  of  the  bee  keeper,  is  no  reason  wiry  care  should  not  be  taken 
in  the  selection  of  drones  which  are  allowed  to  fly  in  the  yard.  When 
breeding  any  race,  Italians  for  example,  it  is  not  enough  that  all  the 
drones  be  Italians;  they  should  be  selected  as  to  honey  production  of 
the  workers,  prolificness  of  the  queen,  or  an}7  other  quality  which  is 
considered  in  choosing  a  breeding  queen. 

Selection  of  drones  may  be  accomplished  by  the  use  of  drone  traps 
or  by  cutting  out  drone  comb.  For  absolute  safety  the  drone  trap  is 
preferable,  since  some  drone  brood  may  escape  observation.  When 
most  colonies  are  requeened  every  season,  only  queens  of  breeding- 
value  should  be  kept,  since  old  queens  produce  larger  numbers  of 
drones. 


INDEX. 

Papo. 

Artificial  cells 12 

queen  rearing 10-24 

Age  of  female  larvae,  for  transfer  to  artificial  cells 13 

Alley  nursery  cage 22 

plan,  modified 18 

system  of  cell  starting 18 

Benton  mating  box 20-27 

Breeding  queens,  mating 24-28 

buying. .    8 

Carniolan  bees 8, 15,  29 

Caucasian  queens 23 

Cell  bases 12 

cups,  artificial 12 

introduction 23 

( Jells,  artificial 12 

' '  Cocoons, ' '  use  in  transfer  of  larvae 19 

Colony,  size  in  mating  of  queens 24 

Cyprian  bees 8, 9, 15, 29 

Doolittle  wax  cups 12 

Drone  comb,  use  in  queen  rearing 19 

production,  desirability  of  old  queens  for 7 

traps,  use  in  selection  of  drones 30 

Drones,  selection 29 

Eggs,  queen's  age  as  factor  in  production 7 

Female  larva*  alike  in  early  development 9 

Flight  of  queens 27 

Hive,  full,  use  as  mating  hive 24 

small,  use  in  mating 26-27 

two-story,  for  queen  rearing 13 

Koney  board,  for  queen  rearing 14 

Honey  production,  frequent  requeening  for 7 

Hybrids,  danger  from  use 8,  29 

fixing  types 29 

Importing  queens,  desirability „ 8 

Incubators 19 

Introducing  queen  cells 23 

Italian  bees 8,9 

Larvae,  female,  age  for  transfer  to  artificial  cells 13 

alike  in  early  development 9 

Mailing  cages 26 

Mating  boxes,  styles  and  sizes. 24-27 

queens 24-28 

Storing  in  nursery „ 23 

31 


32  INDEX. 

Page. 

Mating,  second 28 

Natural  queen  cells,  description  and  number 9 

objections 11 

rearing 9-10 

Nomenclature  in  queen  rearing 11 

Nucleus,  small,  advantages,  disadvantages,  and  use 24-25 

Nursery  cages,  different  styles  compared 20-23 

Odor  of  queen  cell 13 

Patents  on  appliances 11 

Perforated  zinc  for  protecting  cells 14 

Phenomena  in  mating . 27 

Pure  races,  necessity 29 

Queen  buying 8 

cells,  completion 19-24 

introduction 23 

starting 11 

natural,  description  and  number 9 

disadvantages 11 

rearing,  artificial 10-24 

natural 9-10 

Queens,  death  in  introduction  into  hive 24 

importance  in  honey  production 7 

second  matings „ 28 

Queenlessness 10 

Requeening,  frequency  and  necessity 7 

Royal  jelly,  effect  on  larvae . . 9 

in  transferring  larvae 13 

supply 11, 17 

Selection  of  drones 29 

Spermatheca  filled  on  mating 27 

Stanley  cage 21 

Supersedure,  natural  method  of  replacing  queen 10 

Swarm  box,  description  and  method  8f  use 16 

schedule 18 

Swarming 9 

' '  Swarming  impulse  " 9 

Swarthmore  nucleus  box 23 

nursery  cage 23 

Testing  queens 28-30 

Titoff  nursery  cage 21 

Transferring  larvae,  methods  and  appliances 12-15 

in  swarm  box 17 

Tunisian  bees 9 

West  cell  protector 21 


o 


UNIVERSITY  OF  FLORIDA 

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